Let the soul of Mary be
in each one of you.
As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting. her child leapt in her womb.and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
See the careful distinction in the choice of words. Elizabeth was the first to hear the voice, but her son John was the first to feel the effects of grace. She heard as one hears in the natural course of things; he leapt because of the mystery that was there. She sensed the coming of Mary, he the coming of the Lord—the woman knew the woman, the child knew the child.
The women speak of grace while inside them grace works on their infants. And by a double miracle the women prophesy under the inspiration of their unborn children. The infant leapt and the mother was filled with the Spirit. The mother was not filled before her son: her son was filled with the Spirit and in turn filled his mother. John leapt and so did her spirit. John leapt and filled Elizabeth with the Spirit.
We know however that Mary was not filled, but rather her spirit rejoiced, for the Incomprehensible was working incomprehensibly within his mother. Elizabeth had been filled with the Spirit after she conceived, but Mary before, at the moment the angel had come. Blessed are you, said Elizabeth, who believed.
You too, my people, are blessed, you who have heard and who believe. Every soul that believes—that soul both conceives and gives birth to the Word of God and recognizes his works. Let the soul of Mary be in each one of you, to proclaim the greatness of the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each one of you, to rejoice in God.
According to the flesh only one woman can be the mother of Christ, but in the world of faith Christ is the fruit of all of us. For every soul can receive the Word of God if it is but pure and preserves itself in chastity and modesty. The soul that has been able to reach this state proclaims the greatness of the Lord, just as Mary did, and rejoices in God its savior just like her.
The Lord’s greatness is proclaimed, as you have read elsewhere, where it says, Join me in magnifying the Lord. This does not mean that anything can be added to the Lord’s greatness by human words, but that he is magnified in us. Christ is the image of God and so any good or religious act that a soul performs magnifies that image of God in that soul, the God in whose likeness the soul itself was made. And thus the soul itself has some share in his greatness and is ennobled.
From an Exposition of St. Ambrose on the Gospel of Luke,
Office of Readings, December 21st.